Fine chemical sales for agricultural purposes in the United States totalled about 13 billion dollars in 1990. The United States market for organic pesticide intermediates is about 986 million dollars per year, which include chemicals such as nitrites, amines, carboxylic acids, anilines, organophosphorus compounds, mercaptans, phenols, benzenes, alkane/alkenes, pyridines, alcohols and aldehydes.
Agricultural pesticide sales at the producer level in the United States in 1990 were about 5.5 billion dollars. Pesticide sales represent an important segment of the agrochemical industry in the United States and in other world markets, mainly for fungicide, herbicide and insecticide applications.
The control of phytopathogenic fungi is of great economic importance since fungal growth on plants or on parts of plants inhibits production of foliage, fruit or seed, and the overall quality of a cultivated crop.
There is also a serious worldwide problem of mold growth in food materials, such as grains, animal feeds, animal feed ingredients, and hay. This problem is most serious in tropical zones of both the eastern and western hemispheres, where sustained high humidities cause excessive moisture to be absorbed in such products.
Because of the vast economic ramifications of fungal propagation in agricultural and horticultural cultivations, a broad spectrum of fungicidal and fungistatic products have been developed for general and specific applications.
With respect to herbicide developments, weed control is essential in the cultivation of important agricultural crops such as corn, peanuts and cotton, and in the cultivation of many horticultural species. Also, the presence of weeds on non-cropped areas can be a fire hazard, or can result in undesirable drifting of sand or snow, or can cause discomfort to persons with allergies. Control of weeds is particularly beneficial when it permits the selective control of such plants without concurrent injury to desirable crops or vegetation.
Chemical herbicides are classified according to the type of activity they possess. A given compound may have more than one type of activity depending upon its mode of application and the rate at which it is applied. In addition, herbicides are usually classified as selective or non-selective pre-emergents or post-emergents.
Some herbicides are effective through contact, and others are taken up from the soil by root systems. Herbicide types include defoliants, desiccants, eradicants, systemics and selective herbicides, and related plant growth regulants.
With respect to insecticide developments, a wide variety of ornamental and agricultural plants are susceptible to infestation by insects and arachnids. The pests inflict damage by consuming foliage and roots, withdrawing juices from the plants, secreting toxins, and infecting with diseases.
Field crops which require protection from pests include such valuable crops as soybeans, corn, peanuts, cotton, alfalfa and tobacco. In addition, vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes, sugar-beets, carrots, and the like, and nuts, ornamentals, apples, peaches, peas, citrus fruit and grape also require protection from the ravages of such pests.
A broad scope of insecticide compounds have been developed to combat insects which are harmful to agricultural and horticultural plants. Illustrative of insecticide compositions are those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,217,037; 3,506,698; 3,576,834; 3,636,111; 3,755,364; 3,875,232; 4,028,413; 4,128,581; 4,415,743; 4,640,927; 4,804,653; 4,839,349; 5,010,068; 5,087,456; 5,087,456; 5,096,928; and references cited therein.
Of particular interest with respect to the present invention embodiments are pesticide compositions which contain one or more inorganic bicarbonate or carbonate compounds. It is known that bicarbonate and carbonate compounds exhibit biocidal properties for agricultural purposes.
Phytopathology, 48, 169 (1931) by R. H. Marloth describes studies involving the physiology of fungi. The reference reports studies which demonstrate that sodium and potassium bicarbonate and carbonate salts are toxic to fungi such as Penicillum italicum and Penicillum digitalum.
Japanese patent 56043207 describes a biocidal composition containing sodium bicarbonate and a polyglycerol fatty acid ester. The biocide controls Penicillum digitatum on oranges, Sphaerotheca fuligenea on cucumbers, Piricularia oryzae on rice, and mosaic virus on tomatoes.
Japanese patent 57062208 describes horticultural fungicides in which the addition of sodium bicarbonate to polyoxin or thiophanatemethyl increases the fungicidal activity of the organic biocide against botrytis cinerea on cucumbers.
Another significant factor involved in agricultural pesticide sales is the unit form and stability of packaged pesticide products. For purposes of economy and convenience, a pesticide product preferably is in the form of a free-flowing powder which is readily dispersible in water, and which does not agglomerate or deteriorate under ambient storage conditions. A free-flowing pesticide product is difficult to achieve when an ingredient such as a spreader-sticker organic compound is an oil or wax at ambient temperatures.
There remains a continuing need for the development of new and more effective forms of agrochemical compositions which possess preventive, curative and systemic biological activity for the protection of cultivated plants, with a minimum of phytotoxic side effects.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an agricultural composition which is a combination of inorganic and organic compounds exhibiting pesticidal properties.
It is another object of this invention to provide a free-flowing pulverulent composition comprising a combination of ingredients which include a bicarbonate salt fungicidal ingredient and a crystalline spreader-sticker ingredient.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention shall become apparent from the accompanying description and examples.